Chuck Briggs (left) thanks Monique Jefferson and Jeb Hamilton for caring for the girls in their final minutes.

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

Chuck Briggs (left) thanks Monique Jefferson and Jeb Hamilton for...

Image 2 of 4

A memorial for Bobbie Sartain, 16, and Raquel Gerstel, 15.

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

A memorial for Bobbie Sartain, 16, and Raquel Gerstel, 15.

Image 3 of 4

Jeb Hamilton, who came to the girls' aid after the shooting, weeps while recalling their deaths.

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

Jeb Hamilton, who came to the girls' aid after the shooting, weeps...

Image 4 of 4

Chuck Briggs and Monique Jefferson react as they talk Tuesday November 27, 2012 about the killing of the two teenagers on Sunday morning in Oakland, Calif. The two girls were close friends and Chuck Briggs is the guardian of one of them.

Chuck Briggs, a laborer who lives on High Street near Interstate 580 in Oakland, said he had an argument with the teenage daughter of his girlfriend when the girl slammed the front door and ran out of their home early Sunday morning.

On Tuesday, Briggs visited the 2600 block of Minna Avenue near Brookdale Park, just east of the Fruitvale district, where police found the girl, Bobbie Sartain, 16, shot dead. Her best friend, Raquel Gerstel, 15, was also killed.

"I told her, 'If you can't follow the rules then you'll have to go'," Briggs said Tuesday afternoon as he recalled his final words to Bobbie - words he said he regretted. "She said, 'Fine.' And then, she left with Raquel."

The double homicide, which was carried out in a particularly vicious manner that residents described as "overkill," marked the city's 114th and 115th homicides this year. Police have not released any information or suspects in the case. They also said they do not know what Bobbie and Raquel, best friends who grew up together in Alameda, were doing in the residential area, less than a mile from Briggs' home, at the early hour.

Although the tight-knit neighborhood is located blocks away from a stretch of High Street notorious for prostitution, residents said their vicinity has been spared from serious crimes over the years. They said they have run off drug dealers who rented out nearby homes and have been vigilant in protecting their streets.

Yet just before 6 a.m. Sunday morning, police said, neighbors reported a hail of gunfire and rushed outside to find the two girls clinging to life.

The neighbors said they found the first victim, Bobbie, lying on the north side of Minna Avenue suffering bullet wounds to the face and back, while Raquel was found crawling on the south side of the street as she cried out for help. Bullet holes were still visible in houses and cars at the intersection of Minna and Brookdale avenues, and residents said police told them 36 rounds were fired.

Hamilton wept as he recalled the limpness of her hands. "She wanted to hold on but she just couldn't."

On Tuesday afternoon, Briggs visited the intersection after he got off work. He listened stoically as Jefferson and Hamilton described Bobbie's final moments, and thanked them for staying with her.

Briggs said the two girls had been friends since childhood and had recently gotten into trouble for staying out late, smoking marijuana and skipping school.

Bobbie's father died within the past year and one of her brothers committed suicide two months ago, Briggs said.

"They were just teenagers," Briggs said. "They were just babies. They didn't deserve this."

"I know," Jefferson said to comfort Briggs. "I saw that in them. They were just too young."

Raquel's father, Barton Gerstel, also visited the scene Tuesday and said he was devastated by the death of his daughter, a freshman at Arroyo High School.

"I can't imagine life without my daughter, and she's gone now," said Gerstel, a carpenter. "She's going to be missed. I love her and my heart is torn."

Gerstel said his daughter grew up in Alameda, where she met Bobbie before Gerstel's family moved to San Leandro three years ago. She loved shopping - mostly for shoes, purses and makeup - and had been pleading to get a pet Chihuahua. Raquel did well in school, he said, enjoyed cooking Mexican food and "was going to make a good mother someday."

On Saturday, he said, Raquel told him she was going to spend the night with a longtime family friend she referred to as "mom."

Instead, Raquel had that friend drop her off at home while her father was away at work, Gerstel said. Then, she left the house and met up with Bobbie, who was staying with Briggs at their home on High Street.

"I used to beg and plead with her not to come out here," Gerstel said. "I was probably the only one who could control my daughter. The older she got, she was pretty stubborn. She wasn't supposed to be out here."